In a letter posted on the website of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Roberts asked judges who handle ethics complaints at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, based in Denver, to deal with the claims.

The complaints relate to testimony that Kavanaugh gave last month during his confirmation hearings, according to a source familiar, and do not pertain to his conduct as a sitting judge. Then-president Barack Obama nominated Judge Merrick Garland, but Republicans used their majority to prevent Garland from even getting a Senate hearing.

It's been less than 24-hours since Justice Brett Kavanaughtook his rightful seat on the Supreme Court and two weeks since Democrats attempted to derail his nomination with a supercharged smear campaign.

As of yet, Chief Justice Roberts has not made any moves to resolve or review the complaints. Judges who receive complaints have a range of options that include dismissing them out of hand, having local judges investigate them or asking Roberts, in his capacity as head of the federal judiciary, to assign the complaints to judges in a different part of the country.

Last weekend DC Circuit Judge Karen LeCraft Hendersonmentioned the complaints in a news release. The judicial council of that court publicly announced it was closing its investigation because Kozinski had retired, saying that because he "can no longer perform any judicial duties, he does not fall within the scope of persons who can be investigated".